Free Comic Book Day!

Oh, no. Not to say that I ever had one, but I'm losing my touch. Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day, but as I got ready to start this post, I thought I'd take a look at what I might've written about it last year. What I found is pretty much the same opening I was intending to write today. Can I possibly be that predictable? Maybe so. To look at the silver lining in that, though, it makes it easier for someone to successfully come in and ape my blogging style if I ever want to take some time off.

But be that as it may, tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day, so if you've been waiting for an excuse to pick up some free comic books, your opportunity has finally arrived. Some of the comics companies have some intriguing free books to lure you into the stores this year, and you can find a list and descriptions of them at the Free Comic Book Day Website. You can also find a store locator there, so if you're not sure where your closest comic book store is, you can plug in your zip code (or postal code for Canadian readers) and find out. This isn't a North Americacentric exercise, though, so international readers can find out about their options here.

When you go to your friendly (well, let's hope so) neighborhood comic book store, of course you should pick up any of the free comic books that might interest you--without having seen any of the actual issues themselves, I'd casually recommend Scott Pilgrim from Oni Press, The Simpsons from Bongo Comics, Donald Duck from Gemstone, Owly from Top Shelf, and the Fantagraphics Funny Book. I'm not actually familiar with Mr. Jean, but Drawn & Quarterly is always reliable for (sometimes quirky) quality work. Amelia Rules from Renaissance usually gets good reviews, but I haven't actually picked it up myself. If you like the supers, Marvel and DC have some offerings you may have heard of, X-Men teamed with Runaways, Justice League Unlimited, and Superman/Batman, while Dark Horse offers its licensed Conan and Star Wars flip book. There will be a lot to choose from this year, and the best of it has new content.

There's apparently a new comic book store in my neighborhood, so I may walk over there to see what it's like. Just out of curiosity, I checked out the store locator on the Free Comic Book Day page and found another store that's not particularly close but that I'd somehow missed before. They claim to have a huge supply of back issues, so it's probably worth driving over to take a look. Actually, although they say they've been in business for almost 20 years, I wonder if they've moved in the last two or three. Their location is in the same area as an address I had for a comics store that I couldn't find a year or two ago, and I wonder if this is the same store at a different location. Who knows? If I go over, maybe I'll ask how long they've been in their current digs.

But just so you don't miss it and have to be stuck wishing you'd taken advantage of this for another whole year, go out, find a store if you don't already know where one is, pick up a handful of free comic books you think you'll like (and maybe buy one or two while you're at it), and enjoy Free Comic Day just like those original celebrants way back in 2002.